Jul 16

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The ceremony happened at the North Carolina Zoo. The 16.1 mile, four lane highway is part of the Department of Transportation’s plans to improve the routes from Raleigh to Statesville (U.S. 64 ) and Raleigh to Charlotte (N.C. 49 and U.S. 64)

“This bypass will connect the rest of the state with both Asheboro, this region and the zoo,” Gov. Pat McCrory said.

The $244 million project includes building a zoo connector, a two lane roadway running directly from the bypass to the zoo entrance.

“Having this connector to solve the traffic problems associated with high visitor days, large visitor days, is one of the keys to allowing the zoo to accommodate the million people that we’re hoping for in the very near future,” said Mayor David Smith of Asheboro

Work continues to secure the right away to begin building, soon.

“It’s over 460 parcels along the project and we’ve settled on about 150 parcels currently,” said project manager, Mike Merritt. “We started the right away process back in October and we’re probably 6 months to a year to finishing up all of the right away.”

Construction is expected to start in July and finish by November 2019.

Jul 16

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GREENSBORO, N.C. – It’s the first road project of its kind in the City of Greensboro. On Friday and Saturday, the North Carolina Department of Transportation will open its first diverging diamond interchange (DDI).

The DDI is located at I-73 and Gate City Boulevard. It will allow you to access I-73 from Gate City Boulevard and prevent congestion on the interstate ramps.

The DDI alllows traffic in two directions to temporarily cross to the left side of the road. It moves a high volume of traffic without having to increase the number of lanes and traffic signals.

The road project is part of the NCDOT’s $40.1 million High Point Road (Gate City Boulevard) widening project started in October of 2012. The project involves widening a four-mile stretch of the road from two lanes to four with a median. It also involved constructed a new interchange with I-73.

There is already a DDI open at Union Cross Road. Watch the video to learn how to drive on the DDI.

Jul 16

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KERNERSVILLE — The first diverging diamond interchange in the Triad is set to open at Union Cross Road in Kernersville.

Crews will be closing the ramp from I-40 East to Union Cross and opening a portion of the new traffic pattern next weekend.

From I-40 it looks like any other bridge. But when you get up to the cone zone on Union Cross Road, you see there’s something different.

It’s called a diverging diamond interchange.

“This allows for more traffic to go through the intersection than a standard diamond interchange,” said Pat Ivey, a N.C. D.O.T. division engineer.

Engineers say in these intersections, traffic crosses to the opposite side on the bridge before crossing back over.

“You’re going to be on the opposite of the road, so it may feel a little different,’’ said Jeremy Guy, the D.O.T. resident engineer on the project.

But the interchanges allow free flowing turns off the interstate, and eliminates the need for crossing traffic to turn left.

“It allows for those left turn movements to flow unimpeded, which gets people on and off the ramps must quicker,” said Ivey.

This will be the state’s fifth diverging diamond interchange. Seventeen are more are in the works.

“It’s not intimidating, but it is different,’’ said Ivey.

Crews plan to close the eastbound ramp from I-40 next Saturday for 24 hours to make some changes on the intersection. It’s supposed to reopen next Sunday with some of the traffic changes in place.

The interchange is part of a $30 million project to widen a four-mile stretch of Union Cross Road.

The DOT expects traffic to double on the bridge in the next 15 years because of the explosive growth in the eastern part of Forsyth County. Some 8,000 new homes are planned in the surrounding area of Kernersville alone.

“All aspects of growth are hitting this area,” said Jeff Hatling, the community development director of the Town of Kernersville.